Probably my last email to this list.

[Elliot Harmon]

Hi friends and poetry colleagues,

Thanks for going to good poetry readings. Thanks for listening to good music. Thanks for making the world be the kind of world it's fun to do things in.

I started this email list when I was hosting a monthly poetry reading, first at Boxcar Theatre, then at Cafe Royale, and finally at Rancho Parnassus. My purpose in booking those readings was to bring together poets whose voices I thought it would be fun to have in the same room, especially poets who wouldn't normally read together. Denise Newman and Kenneth Goldsmith. Brian Teare and Mike Young. Daphne Gottlieb and Jack Morgan. Lee Ann Roripaugh and Kaya Oakes. To round out the evening, these poets were paired with some of the most interesting classical and experimental music in the Bay Area. Mark Alburger. Philip White and Charity Chan. Cynthia Weyuker. Steven Clark and company. These readings were kind of crazy. They were also some of my favorite nights ever.

I'm not regularly putting on readings anymore, though I'll still set things up from time to time when people are going to be in town. What have I been doing instead? I'm glad you asked. I've recently started a small press called Mission Cleaners Books. Here's where you can learn about Mission Cleaners Books:

http://www.missioncleaners.com/

http://www.facebook.com/missioncleaners

This summer, Mission Cleaners Books will be putting out two books of poetry: Everything Reused in the Sea by Della Watson and Jessica Wickens, and Bug House by Logan Ryan Smith. Jessica and Della's book is a collage of poems, emails, tweets, and ephemera. Every page of it brings a new surprise, a new laugh, a new agitation. Logan's book is a long, half-lucid narrative poem about a man possibly losing his mind. It has lots of animals in it, and lots of urgency, and lots of hopelessness, and maybe a little bit of hope.

I like both of these books a lot. I like them so much, in fact, that I think you should buy them. If you're one of the first 100 people to preorder both books at missioncleaners.com, you'll get a beautiful letterpressed journal from Volta Press. Check it out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliotharmon/sets/72157629875849805/

Even if you don't want to buy them, I'd like to suggest that you become a fan of them on Facebook and tweet about them and assign them in your classes. If you don't mind, I'd also like to add your email to the Mission Cleaners mailing list. As usual, there won't be more than one email a month. And as usual, it will be easy to unsubscribe.

Finally, I wanted to let you know that Mission Cleaners Books is now accepting manuscripts for publication in 2013. Go to missioncleaners.com for more information.

I hope you're well. If you're in San Francisco or somewhere else where it's been hot all weekend, I hope you've enjoyed the hot weekend. I hope you can find the ingredients you need.

Sincerely,

Elliot